Before and After
by beckettlovescastlealways
Summary: On one Halloween night, the Wizarding world goes from war and destruction and death to peace and rebuilding and rebirth. For one group of people, the before and after is an even starker contrast of love and loss, this is their stories of before and after.


I hear the door to the house open and close rather loudly and attempt to wipe the tears out of my eyes as there was no knock before I know that James is home, I grab my wand and point it at him "What was McGonagall teaching on the day I agreed to go out with you?" I ask still unable to stop the tears falling down from my face

"Animagi, Where were we when we first kissed?" he asks moving towards me worried as to why I'm crying

"The boathouse."

"Good to see you love. Though I am most concerned, why the tears Darling?"

"I remain silent for several seconds how do I tell him, I'm saved for mere seconds as the timer goes off "I need to get that."

"Lily... what's wrong?"

"Maybe nothing."

"Well, that 'nothing' made you try to lie to me."

"Let me get this, and then if it's still something, I'll tell you." I promise going to the potion lab and scooping one of the potions into a cup before pricking my finger with a knife and dropping three large drops in before turning it 4 times counter clockwise as I stir it slowly turns from a sickly yellow to a vibrant pink

"Love? What's going on?" James asks just now catching up to me

"I'm pregnant." I mumble, hardly believing it myself... not wanting it to be true

"What was that love?" He says placing his arms around me and rests his chin on my hand

"I'm pregnant, James, we're having a baby girl."

"That's amazing love." he says spinning me around giving me a passionate kiss and

"James, no, this isn't good, you and Sirus just spent today on a mission that you could've died during, Benjy, Edgar and his kids and wife, and that's just in this last two weeks, Harry is allowed in the care of only seven people who aren't us and that's just so no one kills our child, and we want to bring a second baby into this?"

"Dumbledore, he thinks you-know-who is getting desperate, and Snape told him that they're running out of people wanting to be Death Eaters, many of us are being lost, but we're taking more with us." he still hasn't fully stopped smiling "But if we waited till it was over we wouldn't have Harry, this baby, is hope, this baby is what we're fighting for and why we're going to win, and when we win, we'll have as many as Fabian and Gideon have nephews and nieces." so with that he pulls me upstairs, grabbing the Daily Prophet and Quibbler from the table from the couch side table and motions for me to sit "I'm making dinner tonight, I'm going to see if Alice and Frank can keep Harry tonight, you are not reading either of these he says holding them both up and we are having a date night in, to celebrate." and he starts cooking with a yell "No more talk of war or you-know-who, ."

As soon as he gets the food cooking he floocalls Alice who quickly agrees having been begging us for the past few weeks for a play date with her son and godson. Then he offers his hand to me as he puts on a slow dance song through the radio and pulls me close until he gets me smiling with him.

we danced until the food was ready he lights a candle and pours fancy water into two wine glasses and serves up the food with a smile "So, I chose the Godfather and you chose the Godmother last time, so we'll switch this time?"

"You mean I pick godfather, you pick godmother?" I ask with a smirk, sounds like something he would do, take turns with our children before we even had them both in our arms

"Yep." he says popping the p

"Okay, fine, you go first, who is her godmother?"

"McGonagall."

"Professor McGonagall?" I set my fork down for a second ... James Potter, the prankster of Hogwarts wants one of the strictest teachers in the school to be his daughter's godmother

"Yeah, she helped Remus his entire time at Hogwarts, Sirius in his fifth year after all the stuff with his family, you and I when our parents died. She'd spoil her but not too much, she'd protect her, she's perfect."

"You've certainly thought this out ... how long have you thought of this?" I say stalling, knowing my suggestion may lead to an argument

"Few months. So who's on your list?"

"I was thinking, if you were willing to talk to him outside of Order meetings, Severus... I mean he was the reason we went into hiding he's the reason Harry and both of us and the Longbottoms are alive and..."

"Lily, I love it, and if you want it, I'll do my best to get it for you, and if that means apologizing to Severus and talking to him, I will." "He grabs my hand over the table with a smile "Now, no more serious talk, now back to our date."


End file.
